Which church to join

We just ended six years at a church in a denomination that has women pastors, celebrates Lent, and is fairly wishy-washy/non-commital on any point of doctrine "soul liberty" trumps diligent searching of the scriptures).

Yet, we became members, served in various capacities, and had fellowship. Eventually I took over the Adult Sunday School class and taught for a year.

But after a while you get tired of fighting. The sermons were eisegetical (is that a word? :smilewinkgrin, with the pastor imposing his desired emphasis rather than expositing God's words. The focus of ministry became "love one another," while the numbers declined. Spiritual formation and various other "ancient christian practices" (a tenebrae service, for example) were introduced.

You can oly fight from within for so long, before you start to question everything and see heresy behind every corner. That becomes unhealthy and unproductive.

So we are moving on -- though where has not yet been determined.

 

Salty, let me clarify and expand on my post in the other thread.

There is a big difference between attending a church and joining it.

I have attended, and worshipped, spoken from the pulpit and sung at a number of non-Baptist churches. But I would never join any of them. And once they found out what I believed, I'd be surprised if they would want me as a member.

I am surprised that the Landmark church asked you to lead the youth group without your being a member. And I'm surprised you'd even consider it. I do appreciate your candor with the church leaders about your beliefs.

The things I listed in the other post that I would be willing to yield on, were certainly non-essentials in my mind. They are preferences. My intention was to demonstrate that JSM17 would probably yield on none of them, and is not really interested in unity except on his terms.

If you were not Baptist, you'd still be welcomed in our church, and we'd try to make you feel at home. But unless you were willing to embrace historic Baptist doctrine and practice, you'll never be asked to join. In fact, you'd not be accepted if you wanted to.

If you were sprinkled before, we'd have to dunk you. If you were dunked in a Church of Christ, we'd have to dunk you again.

There are simply some things I can't yield on for the sake of unity.

 

And unity is used by liberals as a means to be accepted in all their errors and distortions of scripture. It is their foot in the door.

 

We used to live in Lancaster County, the Buckle in the Bible Belt.

Southwest PA is the exact opposite -- biblical literacy here is abysmally low and the churches reflect that reality.

 

You certainly have your priorities straight.

Later.

 

Some prefer we never argue, but always be united in one mind. This is certainly an admirable Scriptural goal, which is why it is so critical we form our minds and opinions and views around Scripture – not isolated proof texts, but the whole counsel of God as revealed in His Word. But the assumption that “no disagreements” equals “unity” is flawed.

Controversy brings clarity – we learn by submitting ourselves to rigorous scrutiny why we think and believe what we do, or why we should change. There are clear examples of this in Scripture: Paul confronts Peter over his inconsistency about Jewish Law, Jesus confronted the Bible scholars of His day, and Paul, James, and Peter wrote epistles to confront various teaching “not in line with the Gospel.” It’s disingenuous to cry “unity!” when you don’t submit yourself to scrutiny. “I want everyone to be united in thinking exactly as I do...” is not unity – it’s control.

 

Southern Baptist Church should be the instant winner. Especially in Germany.